Now and Then And Now
by poeticgrace
Summary: Memories and realities are interwoven as we revisit eight of CRU's favorite alumni. FOUR PARTS.
1. Chapter 1

She finds it buried beneath a stack of sorority t-shirts, college yearbooks, party invitations and other relics of her Cyprus Rhodes past. It's been years since she looked in this box, a collection of memories from a lifetime before this one. Casey hardly remembers what it's like to be that girl. She hasn't been the golden girl of ZBZ in a decade. She's just a mom now, a lawyer and a wife. And yet, as soon as she finds that long-forgotten lavaliere tucked in a velvet bag, she is transformed back to a warm September afternoon in a driveway, staring up into a pair of blue eyes she knew as well as her own.

_Casey has known this moment was coming for weeks. She had discussed it at length with Ashleigh on more than one occasion over drinks at Dobbler's and a few sleepless nights at the house. Between classes and ZBZ duties and putting up with Rusty, it felt like the only bright spot in her life sometimes. She had so much hope for a future with Evan, an optimism she had never quite had with Cappie. It wasn't that she hadn't loved him – she had loved him more than she could ever quite explain – but that relationship had always felt like it had an expiration date. With Evan, she could see the future that they would have someday._

_And that's why she isn't at all surprised but completely exhilarated when he pulls out the gold necklace and clasps it around her neck. It had been official for awhile, but this was a Greek right of passage that every girl on Sorority Row waited for. "I love you, Case," he whispers as he pulls away and then leans down for a kiss. As if on cue, her sorority sisters filter onto the lawn and his frat brothers come out of the bushes. There is applause and she blushes and he laughs because he's pretty sure she's the most beautiful girl he's ever seen._

Casey pulls the necklace out of the bag and hands it over. Her daughter turns it over in her palm and smiles at her as she tells the story about how she once knew a boy named Evan who gave it to her. Then the girl next door comes over to ask her daughter to play and Casey is left alone with her box of memories. It's been a long time since she thought of that moment, this one day that had been so randomly perfect that she still cherished it years later. And when her husband comes in, she is still holding that necklace in her lap.

"What do you have there?" he asks as he slinks to the ground next to her, kissing the side of her neck while looking over her shoulder at the piece of treasured jewelry. "That looks familiar."

"It should, it was the first piece of jewelry you ever gave me," she grins. Evan takes the necklace from her and clasps it around her neck just as he had so long ago. And then he leans forward and whispers that he loves her and kisses her soundly in their sunny attic. "I love you, too, Ev. We should probably get started on dinner."

He smiles at her and nods, helping her to her feet while talking about a case he is working on with Legal Aid. She nods in all the right places and murmurs her opinion a time or two, but mostly, she's just caught up in those blue eyes. She still remembers what it's like to be that girl – the one that he is looking at now with that smile and she knows that this moment is so much better, just a cool April evening in a kitchen, staring up into a pair of blue eyes she'll know for the rest of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

The call comes in the middle of the night, just a sniffling voice on the other end of the line. Rebecca doesn't hesitate as she throws on some clothes in her dark apartment and heads out into the black Manhattan night. She finds him waiting at a bar, drunkenly nursing a beer and lamenting about where things went wrong. She tosses her tiny clutch on the bar and climbs onto the stool beside him, motioning for the bartender to bring another and tells him to "keep them coming" when he deposits a beer in front of her.

"I just don't understand where things went wrong. I tried to be everything," he laments, pounding his fist against the bar to emphasize each syllable. She consoles him softly, rubbing small circles along his spine and does her best to keep him supplied in alcohol. It's only when he looks up at her from the bar with a sad look in his eyes that she is transformed back to a night like this during sophomore year where she had been in the same sad state. "Why couldn't we make it work? Maybe then things would be perfect."

"_Argh!" Rebecca muttered as she threw her cell phone down on the bar and collapsed on the stool. She was tired of fighting with Evan. They had been at it for weeks, and nothing was going to make her feel better other than the massive amounts of alcohol she planned to consume over the next two hours. The cute barkeep drops off her martini and she demands that he "keep them coming" until she can't walk straight. A $50 tip upfront ensures that she will get her way. "Love sucks."_

"_Tell me about it," her friend said as he sat down beside her. She slanted her eyes in his direction as he ordered a beer. When they were both adequately served, he held up his beer toward her and toasted her. "To the demise of all happy relationships. They are just not destined to be."_

"_What has you so bitter? I thought you were high on the wings of love these day," she replied sarcastically. He shrugged as if to say, you don't want to ask, and took a long swill of his pale ale. "Whatever, who needs them? Screw love and those dopey dreamers who think relationships are worth the time and effort."_

"_Exactly!" he agreed, grinning at her. He waved over the bartender and ordered a few rounds of tequila shots. "Just speeding up the process."_

"_See, if only we could make things work, it would be perfect!"_

"Because you're gay and I'm a woman," Rebecca told Calvin. "Trust me, it's not like I haven't tried to figure out a way to make it work." He grins up at her then and laughs a little, a nice reprieve from the sadness in his eyes. "He's not worth this, Cal. You know it and I know it. We're far too fabulous to ever let a guy make us get bags under our eyes."

"This much is true," he mutters somewhat soberly, wiping at his eyes before pushing the beer away. Rebecca surveys the six empty glasses and decides that he's had enough. She pays his hefty bar tap and helps Calvin gather himself before leading him out to the curb. She manages to hail a cab while keeping him on his feet and gets them both into the back of the taxi without incident. And when they get home to the apartment that they share in the heart of the best city in the world, she puts him to bed with a chaste kiss to the forehead and a trash can next to his mattress. It might not be what they had in mind but it works, and that makes them perfect.


	3. Chapter 3

Laura sits across from the wedding planner, her perfectly organized binder spread out in front of her. There are seating arrangements and gift registries and reception menus and song playlists and about a million other pieces of paper color coded and indexed. They are all these tiny little details that will make up their wedding. Dale hasn't had much input as a whole. Really, she had assigned him with one important task – finding his half of the bridal party. Rusty had already agreed to be his best man and Calvin would be one of his groomsmen. He had asked his cousin from back home to also stand up with him, leaving just one slot open. Laura hadn't exactly been thrilled when he had mentioned Cappie's name, but in a lot of ways, Cappie had been one of the best friends Dale had ever had.

_It's a year after college and Dale is working as a youth minister at some mega church deep in the heart of the South. Laura followed him to Alabama, living up the life of a Southern debutante to the fullest with a full slate of tea parties and cotillions. They've learned to dance and make collard greens and play croquet. She seemed to thrive in the unbearable humidity of July, looking perfect when the rest of the belles found their hair unmanageable. He sometimes worries what the parishioners think of him living with a girlfriend in sin, but he has to believe that his God is one that supports a love like the one that he has with Laura. Still, that doesn't keep him from doubting himself._

_That's what drives him to pick up the phone one day at his office, dialing a phone number he hadn't called in years but could still recite from memory. It only takes two rings and then Cappie is on the other end of the line. The wayward drifter puts him back on track immediately, bringing up reminders of fate and destiny and God's plan for them all. He reminds him that he has the love of a good woman and the love of an even better Lord, and even if Cappie isn't always sure that he believes it himself, he knows that Dale has faith and he has faith in Dale._

"_Don't ever let them make you doubt yourself," he tells Dale before they hang up. "That's what naysayers do. They look for a weakness and then they capitalize on it. They find that moment where you don't quite think you're good enough and they stop at nothing until they've made it the truth. I know that you're more than that. You know that you're more than that. I have faith in you."_

And that is how he convinces Laura that Cappie has to be standing up there with them on the most important day of their lives because no matter what happens, Cappie will be there to believe in them – both of them. He will be their biggest fan when all others doubt. He will have unconditional faith that they can beat the odds and live the life God intended them to live. When, and only when, she finally sees it through Dale's eyes, she calls Cappie herself and asks him to be part of their wedding. She isn't really sure that she believes in Cappie but she believes in Dale and that's the one thing they will always have in common.


	4. Chapter 4

Los Angeles felt…lonely.

It was the last thing Ashleigh expected when she packed up and moved halfway across the country. Rusty had been nothing but another breakup, a heartache that time and distance was yet to cure. He still called her sometimes, leaving messages on her voicemail when she failed to pick up, and checking up on her through Casey. It wasn't that she didn't love him. It's that she had loved him too much and lost herself in the process.

They had broken up on a Tuesday night, after he had waited an hour to pick her up for a movie. She had finally rolled in, drunk out of her mind and hanging off some guy whose name she still didn't know. Rusty hadn't even tried to argue with her. He had only handed over her keys silently and not answered his phone for the next twelve hours. By the time he came around to check on her (well after he was sure she had sobered up), Ashleigh had already packed up her apartment. She was in LA that same night and she had pretended not to look back since.

But there were still nights like tonight, when the rain was falling and old songs brought back old memories, when Ashleigh couldn't help but reflect on when times had been good. Rusty had been good to her, and she had relied on that too much. She had forgotten how to be Ashleigh without Rusty, so escaping into alcohol and then the bright lights of Hollywood had seemed like a good idea. Of course, she'd never been more wrong, and all she was left with was a stupid U2 song that reminded her of the last time she had been happy.

"_I love this song!"_

_Rusty laughed as his girlfriend squealed and turned up the radio. She started dancing around his sunny apartment, shaking her hips in time with U2's "Sweetest Thing." Singing the lyrics terribly offkey, she didn't care that he was watching as she immersed herself into the song. All that mattered to her was that she felt this moment, this song. It only made Rusty love her more._

"_Dance with me," she pleaded, throwing her arms around his neck and forcing him to swing around in circles. Ashleigh threw her head back, her bouncy curls cascading over his outstretched arms. "Don't you just love this song?"_

"_I do, Ash," he chuckled, pulling her closer to him so that she was cradled to his chest. He kissed the top of her head as they swayed together, their movements much slower than the upbeat melody. "It can be our song." She smiled up at him then and nodded resolutely. It was decided. "And no matter where we are, when we hear this song, we'll call each other so that we can be together. We should always be together when we hear this song."_

Before she knows it, Ashleigh is scrounging for her cell phone on the carpet and dialing his number from memory. No amount of phonebook cleansing could rid her mind of those ten precious digits. He answers it on the first ring. Her breath hitches, but he's right there to bring her back to earth. "Hey, Ash," he tells her instantly. "I missed you."

Ashleigh is left with no words of her own, so she relies on a Bono lyric instead. "Oh, the sweetest thing."


End file.
